Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 93 The Weak Holy Army (Subscription Request)

In fact, Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong returned quite early. On the fourth day of the New Year, they persuaded Guo Zixing and rushed to Luzhou immediately. They almost made it in time for Lu Jin's wedding.

Lu Jin got married on the sixth day of the first lunar month and went to war that night. Today, on the morning of the seventh day, before the fighting broke out in Chao County, Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong went to Luzhou, and Zhang Liang naturally followed them back.

They were just about to report to Lu Jin about the recruitment of Guo Zixing, but when they arrived they found that Lu Jin was not there. Upon learning that Lu Jin was leading the army to war, Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong were somewhat worried.

This is the lord they just surrendered to, and they haven't started working officially yet. The lord must not lose the battle.

However, Bao Heng, who was in charge of receiving them, had great confidence in Lu Jin. He repeatedly said that his lord would win and that today would be the day Kang Maocai would die!
Bao Heng's confident attitude immediately made Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong guess that Bao Heng might know something.

Just kidding, his own brother Bao Yu was the spy lurking beside Kang Maocai. Although he didn't know the specific content of the secret letters between Lu Jin and Bao Yu, he was responsible for conveying the communication between Lu Jin and Bao Yu.

Judging from the frequency of communication between Lu Jin and Bao Yu, and considering the way Lu Jin murdered Zhao Pusheng, it would be strange if he didn't kill Kang Maocai as well!
In the lobby of the government office, listening to Bao Heng's flattery of Lu Jin, Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong didn't think it was a big deal. They both guessed that Lu Jin must have made some plans in advance. However, Feng Sheng, who was only 24 years old this year, was relatively young and energetic and had a strong curiosity.

He and his brother led more than 400 people to build a stronghold for self-protection in their hometown Dingyuan. They had never fought a war so far. Even if they wanted to surrender to Lujin, it was his brother Feng Guoyong who made the decision. It was inevitable that he was curious when he heard about the war.

Feng Sheng immediately asked, "I wonder how many soldiers Kang Maocai has, and how many soldiers has General Lu dispatched to deal with it?"

Yu Tongyuan thought for a moment and said, "I heard that Kang Maocai has sent out all his main forces this time, about 10,000 soldiers, plus his troops in other places, a total of nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses, what we can take out here is about this number."

"That means they are evenly matched. Is Marshal Lu really so sure that he can beat Kang Maocai?"

Feng Sheng spoke without thinking. Upon hearing his words, his brother Feng Guoyong kicked his chair without leaving any trace, and Feng Sheng reacted immediately.

"Well, that's not what I meant. I meant that if Marshal Lu is short of soldiers, I still have several hundred strong men. Although they can't compare to a battle of tens of thousands of people, they can still help a little."

"Hahahaha, Brother Feng, you're worrying too much." Yu Tongyuan laughed immediately.

"The Marshal is the direct descendant of the Gongshu clan. He has inherited the art of war from his family. He has been familiar with military books since he was young. He is good at calculating and making extraordinary plans. Before we took Luzhou, even when we were at a disadvantage, the Marshal could lead us to defeat strong enemies repeatedly and win victory after victory. Moreover, this time we have the advantage in terms of military strength."

"Oh? Brother Yu, may I ask if you can tell me about the Marshal's past battle achievements?" Feng Sheng immediately became interested.

"Why not?"

Since they were free anyway, Yu Tonghai and Feng Sheng, two people of similar age, started chatting, from the time when Lu Jin designed Zuo Junbi to the present day. Yu Tonghai praised Lu Jin as an invincible genius.

And Lu Jin, whom he called a "genius", was currently in Chao County worrying about the number of troops.

Yu Tingyu's Second Regiment was temporarily guarding the two cities of Lu'an and Luzhou, and was absolutely empty. The Second Regiment was the guardian force and must not be moved.

In Liang County, there are two thousand new recruits of the Qin brothers.

Yang Jing's four regiments are currently responsible for guarding Heyang. He has more than 4,000 people to defend the city and Hezhou Port to prevent the Yuan army in Jiangnan from landing in Hezhou. To be honest, the strength of one regiment is not enough in Heyang.

The Sixth Regiment newly formed by Zhang Wen has not yet been formally formed, and he will be responsible for guarding Liang County next.

Liao Yongan's Third Regiment is preparing to join the navy in besieging Wuwei County and taking over the last piece of land controlled by Kang Maocai, which will be the final battle of this decisive battle.

Wuwei has to fight. It is best to fight now when Kang Maocai has just been defeated and his main forces have been lost. If we don't fight now, it will be even more difficult to fight him if Wuwei replaces his troops in the future.

Moreover, taking Wuwei would be equivalent to controlling the Ruxu River, and the Chaohu navy would be able to independently control the access to the river.

Zhu Shou's regiment must also escort the prisoners back to Luzhou as soon as possible to fill the military gap in Luzhou. After all, the regiment is Lu Jin's personal soldiers and must go back.

The navy of Liao Yongjian, which was originally stationed in Chao County, has now gone to Hezhou Port to take over the Yangtze River defense naval force and is about to participate in the encirclement and annihilation battle in Wuwei County. As a result, Chao County is left empty again without any garrison troops.

Zhu Liangzu's Fifth Regiment was idle for the time being, so he could only stay in Chao County for a few days.

By this calculation, the first regiment guarded Luzhou, the second regiment guarded Lu'an, the third regiment attacked Wuwei, the fourth regiment guarded Heyang, the fifth regiment guarded Chao County, and the sixth regiment guarded Liang County. The navy was also fully dispatched.

After all the calculations, the only mobile force Lu Jin could mobilize was Ye Sheng's cavalry regiment.
All his main regiments were trapped, and he had no extra troops to mobilize for mobile operations.

If the imperial court sent a large army to attack at this time, he would not even be able to send reinforcements. Although he had just won a battle, this was the weakest moment for the Shengwu Army.

Lu Jin counted the cities he was going to attack next and the army he was about to expand, and suddenly found a problem.

If the battle continues in this way, with one regiment defending one city, even if he expands to a dozen regiments, it will not be enough. We can't keep the garrison like this!

Next, the garrison method must be changed to form a method that is tight inside and outside but loose in the middle. In addition, the second-line militia forces must be trained as soon as possible to replace the main force in defending the city.

In the future, when garrisons are stationed, more new recruits should be placed in Luzhou, the core capital, for unified training. Some unimportant cities in the middle should not have main garrisons, and the main corps should be transferred to the edge of the power. The purpose is to defend against enemy attacks and to facilitate the expansion of territory.

For example, Chao County. Now that we have taken over Heyang and Wuwei, there are no hostile forces around it. Chao County has become the rear area, so there is no need to send the main force to garrison it. It can be left to the local militia.

The same goes for Liang County. Once he pushes the periphery to Dingyuan and Chuzhou, Liang County will no longer need its main force to guard it.

As long as the core and the periphery are well controlled, the middle can be relaxed when necessary. This will save manpower for external operations.

Lu Jin immediately wrote down his ideas in a notebook to avoid forgetting them. Of course, the next step of expanding the army had to be quick.

He must recover the Shengwu Army from its weakness before the first wave of suppression from the imperial court, otherwise what follows may be disastrous.

He closed the notebook and looked at Zhu Liangzu and Chang Yuchun who were still fighting in a duel under the city. The two were fighting for the position of vanguard, and neither of them was willing to give in, so with Lu Jin's consent, they went down to fight in a duel.

As the saying goes, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. When it comes to martial arts, there is definitely no draw.

The two men were fighting with spears, and for a while they were evenly matched. But as time went on, Chang Yuchun began to show signs of weakness.

After all, 'the stick fears an old man, the fist fears a young man'. Chang Yuchun suffered from his young age. Chang Yuchun, who was only 21 years old this year, was no match for the 28-year-old Zhu Liangzu, who was at the peak of his physical fitness, in terms of strength and combat experience. He was quickly defeated by Zhu Liangzu.

Seeing that the two had already decided the winner, Lu Jin immediately shouted from the city wall, "Alright, both of you, stop it. Come up here. I have something to arrange."

The two men stopped fighting after hearing this, and all ran back to the top of the city panting. Zhu Liangzu said proudly, "How about it, kid? Are you convinced this time? Although your martial arts are good, you are still a little immature after all. You still need to practice more in the future!"

Chang Yuchun was an honest man but he was unwilling to suffer any loss, so he said, "You are good at martial arts, but leading troops in battle is not all about martial arts. It's hard to say who will be the vanguard."

"伱"

The two of them quarreled all the way back to the top of the city wall. Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately shouted, "Alright, stop arguing. Neither of you can be the vanguard now."

"Ok?"

Zhu Liangzu was stunned and was about to ask, but Lu Jin shouted again, "Shut up and listen to my arrangements first."

"Chang Yuchun, don't you have family members in Liu Ju's place? Leave Lan Rong behind, and go and fetch your family members. And whoever you want to take with you, bring them all here this time. When you come back, come to Luzhou to find me immediately, and I will arrange the next things for you.

"Zhu Liangzu, your Fifth Regiment will temporarily hold Chaohu for a few days. Wait for Liao Yongan and his men to capture Wuwei, and then wait for my order. There will definitely be plenty of battles for you to fight next."

"Yes, I'll obey your order!" The two men immediately clasped their fists and agreed.

Seeing Lan Rong with a sad face, Chang Yuchun immediately comforted him, "Just follow the Marshal first. How can I eat you? I will go and bring your family over, and then I will go to Luzhou to look for you."

"Brother Yuchun, you must come back soon!"

"Do not worry."

After Chang Yuchun left, Lu Jin asked Zhu Shou to escort the captives back to Luzhou as soon as possible. After explaining everything, he returned to Luzhou by boat.

They got married yesterday evening, but there was no bridal chamber, so they ran out to fight. Today is the seventh day, and before it got dark in the afternoon, Lu Jin had already returned triumphantly.

When he returned to Luzhou again, Yu Tingyu, Yu Tongyuan, Bao Heng, Li Shanchang, Feng Guoyong and Feng Sheng, as well as his wife Zhang Yunxiu, all rushed to the city gate to greet him.

Everyone had already learned of the good news from the express ship sent from Chao County, and when they saw Lu Jin, they hurriedly saluted and congratulated him.

"Congratulations to the Marshal on his triumphant return and another victory!"

Lu Jin first helped Yu Tingyu up, then helped Li Shanchang up, then held Zhang Yunxiu's hand, and then smiled.

"Hahaha, I'm sorry to have worried you all, but it doesn't matter. Kang Maocai was vulnerable. He led an army of more than 10,000, but I defeated him with only 8,000 men. I also sent a small army to seize his city. This battle can be regarded as a great victory, with a lot of spoils. There are more than 10,000 captured enemy soldiers alone. You don't have to worry."

(End of this chapter)